My name is Stephanie. I am a Baptist from Georgia and I have broken free from Beth Moore.
I know that I was indeed born in sin but it is hard for me to remember ever being lost. I grew up in church and was saved at a young age. I spent my teen years participating in the church youth group. Around the age of twenty-one, I began to become seriously interesting in the Bible study and doctrine. Desiring to learn more about God’s word, I started listening to sermon podcasts at work and the gym. I turned to the only teachers I knew of at the time. Included in my listening rotation were Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Andy Stanley, and Voddie Baucham. Joyce Meyer was very popular on the radio and on TV. I knew of Andy Stanley from living in the Atlanta area. I had participated in a few Beth Moore studies at church. Voddie Baucham had been invited to my church a couple of years earlier for a conference. After a few months, I stopped listening to Andy Stanley. His sermons weren’t very deep and I didn’t get much out of them. I found that Joyce Meyer provided mostly anecdotes; I didn’t really learn anything from her messages so I stopped listening to her, too. I kept listening to Voddie Baucham, he was my favorite teacher of the group by far. I was thirsty to learn the word and Baucham was preaching it. Beth Moore also talked a lot from the Biblical text so I continued listening to her. At age twenty-eight, I married my husband Jarrod. We began to attend a family integrated church where expository sermons were preached. God has blessed me with a husband who enjoys learning as much as I do and we often have conversations about theology and the sermons to which we listen. Over time, my husband has helped me put Beth Moore in perspective.
A couple of years ago, my mom invited me to travel with her and a few ladies from my family to a Beth Moore conference. I agreed and my husband came to watch our daughter at the hotel while my relatives and I attended the event. When I got to the conference, I was excited but also a little skeptical because there were men in attendance. I have always had an internal struggle with women teaching men in a theological setting. Beth Moore is marketed to women but men often attend her events. The conference I attended was very much music-driven. Beth Moore came out and spoke after a few songs were played. I always take notes during talks and sermons and this conference was no exception. I listened to Beth and took diligent notes until she stopped talking and we sang again. I left the first day of the conference feeling a little disappointed. Beth’s message seemed incomplete, but I figured she would finish her thoughts the next day and bring the conference to a good end. The second day of the conference followed the same format, lots of singing and Beth giving a talk. Again, I took diligent notes and paid close attention. Nevertheless, when it was all over, I couldn’t even explain what Beth had been talking about the whole time. Just about the only thing I can remember is that Beth Moore had a spin sign and she moved it up and own. When my husband asked me about the conference, I couldn’t explain to him what I had learned. Yet, I can always explain what I learned when I listen to my pastor or Voddie Baucham preach. Nevertheless, I still thought Beth Moore was okay. I told Jarrod that she was more or less a motivational speaker for women. I saw no harm in what she was doing.
A year or so later, one of our friends at church recommended that we listen to the Christian Commute podcast because the host was a like-minded brother in Christ. Jarrod began to listen to The Christian Commute and he really enjoyed it. The host of the podcast, Seth Dunn, often warns people about learning from Beth Moore. One day on the way home, Jarrod called me and asked me if it was a Beth Moore conference that we had gone to to a while back. When I told him “yes”, he said, “Oh, she is saying some crazy things.” He told me about how she told stories about talking with God while drinking sweet tea on the back porch. I told him I didn’t listen to her enough to know about that. Then he told me that Beth Moore claimed that God told her to brush this random guy’s hair at the airport. At this point I laughed out loud, that story I had heard! My mom lovingly told me that story in great detail because it was her absolute favorite story that Beth told. I had never heard Beth’s stories of divine conversation critiqued as blunty was they were on the Christian Commute. The silliness of the stories, when considered critically, actually made me laugh.
I told Jarrod that even though I had done a few Beth Moore studies and attended her conference that I didn’t listen to her for any counsel. She wasn’t anyone I turned to for guidance so I didn’t want to defend her. If she truly was telling fantastical charismatic stories, I thought she should be rebuked. Still, I saw no harm in following her. A little time went by and the problems with Beth Moore came up again. I gave them same answer as I had before but decided to take a deeper look at Beth Moore. It didn’t take long to find the videos her critics were always talking about and the warnings on the internet about her. I was taken aback. I had never heard anyone talk bad about Beth Moore and ladies at my old church were always doing her studies. It was startling to see so many blogs and podcasts warning about her. I decided that I should be warning about her, too. For so long, I had just considered her okay because everyone around me did…but she wasn’t.
I started listening to The Christian Commute and soon after that, the Polemics Report. My discernment is much better than it used to be. I have come to realized that all of those “teachers” I listened to and naturally rejected, I rejected because they were bad teachers. I was lucky to have heard a sound teacher, Voddie Baucham, at that time I was listening to them so that I didn’t fall into the “black hole” of Beth, Joyce, and Andy. I am thankful for the blunt truthfulness of Seth Dunn and other like-minded brothers in Christ. If they had sugar-coated their critiques of false teachers and teachings, I may not have questioned them. I would not have thought to question Beth Moore or any other teacher that taught poorly. Now, I do and I think you should, too. I encourage anyone following Beth Moore to research the claims of her numerous critics. Don’t just follower her because she is popular and everybody else does it. Joyce Meyer and Andy Stanley are popular, too. I am confident that if you carefully study her, you also will break free of Beth Moore.
[Edited by: Seth Dunn]
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use
